politics, activism, art, philosophy

exodia

Celeste DragonLIGHT/Dragon/Level 6/2400 ATK/2200 DEF
1) If you control no monsters: you can Normal Summon this card without any Tribute.
2) If this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: you can send 1 Dragon monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. Special Summon this card, but half its original ATK and DEF. If this card would be removed from the field, banish it instead.

Dragonic DesperationContinuous Trap
1) Activate when you Special Summon a Dragon from your Graveyard: Special Summon as many monsters as possible with the same name from your hand, Deck, or Graveyard.
2) If this card is removed from the field: banish all monsters Summoned by this card’s effect. At the end of your opponent’s next turn: send this card to the Graveyard.

Dragon MirageSpell
1) During your End Phase: Special Summon Dragons from your Deck equal to the number of Dragons you control that were destroyed this turn. They cannot attack, and their ATK and DEF are halved.

MAIN EFFECTS:
2) Must first be Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by banishing 4 Dragon monsters you control of different Extra Deck types.
3) If this card would be targeted or destroyed: you can banish 1 Dragon from your hand, field, or Graveyard, and this card is not destroyed.
4) If this card is destroyed: you can send this card to a Pendulum Zone instead of the Extra Deck.
5) If this card is destroyed: you can Special Summon 1 banished Dragon (ignoring all Summoning conditions).
6) If this card destroys your opponent’s monster by battle: it can attack once more.

Hannibal’s cards:

Artifact UraniawarLIGHT/Fairy/Link 3/2800 ATK/Arrows: top, bottom-left, bottom
3 “Artifact” monsters
1) Once during your turn: you can set 1 “Artifact” monster from your Graveyard facedown in one of your Spell & Trap Zones.
2) Once during your opponent’s turn: if this card or a card its Link Arrows point to would be destroyed: destroy 1 Spell or Trap you control; this card is not destroyed.

Forbidden SealingTrap
1) Send 1 Normal monster from your hand to the Graveyard. Send up to 2 Normal monsters with the same Type and Attribute from your Deck to the Graveyard

Radio Half LifeContinuous Trap
1) Once per turn: when one of your monsters battles; banish 1 “Artifact” monster from your Graveyard. Half the ATK of 1 monster on the field.
2) When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: you can banish it to Special Summon as many of your banished “Artifact” monsters as possible. Return all monsters you control to your hand at the end of the turn.

Mathias, watching the epic duel from the sidelines, is so shocked and puzzled by Hannibal’s hesitation he clasps his jaw with his hand, glancing around the arena to make sure he is not hallucinating the event, seeing everyone is as shocked as he is. “Why did not Hannibal pummel him! He is one turn away from killing Matthew in his own Shadow Game!” He rages to himself, the voice in his head so loud he believes for a brief moment everyone can hear him. Then he realizes Hannibal is only human and no normal person can easily take a life.

Mathias clasps the Philosopher’s Stone on his chest; a glowing crystal in small gold cage, made from the very leftover gold used to create the Millennium Items. His stone gave him and Maximus a life far longer than human, the Headmaster of their great monastery in Ireland prolonged their lives to prepare all Christendom for the End Times. Mathias chastises himself for his lack of mercy and remorse, and with that he doubts his goodness again. Was he the Red Dragon the Headmaster prophesized?

Hannibal withdraws his fist, refraining from striking Matthew with a crippling blow, and reaches out to him one last time. “Matthew, ask yourself; would your grandfather kill for revenge? He would be so ashamed and sad, to see his great grandson, so intelligent, talented, and tasteful, throw away all his potential. And all your terror and murder for what; to get back at people not worth the trouble for losing a card game? You know you’re better than this.

“I do not speak to you as a teacher but as another flawed man. I remember the day I realized the error of my ways and changed. I was married to Indira, a beautiful noble woman, an Indian princess, no an Indian goddess of all virtues you used to have, but one day One day I failed to worship her, this Eternal Feminine.” Every female finalist groans at the hearing of such praise, but Hannibal fails to hear them. “I met a girl online, more comely than my dear Indira but nowhere near as beautiful or intelligent, but I pursued her, and Indira divorced me when she found out. Ever since then I embraced a different life, a life of stoicism and reflection, but never has a day gone by without me doing good deeds in penance. Matthew, it is never too late to repent and return to a nobleman’s life of virtue.”

“Elitism and classism much.” Stella remarks from the sidelines with a snark.

Maya is about to respond but Kaiba chortles in her place. “He’s a stoic. Of course he acts like Caesar while pretending to be humble, as if anyone cares about the moral drama in his life.” Maya might as well have said it.

Matthew listened to everything his former mentor said – truly he did, he paid attention sincerely – shaking his head and laughing sadly, unable to take anything Hannibal said seriously anymore. He has to tell the truth. “Old man, you never knew my grandfather. He had connections to the Ghouls for over a decade, and he profited from their rackets, not only their usual extortions but also from the antiques black market. He was not a good person. No ‘nobleman’ is. I told you, as an insider, the owners of the world use morals as a one-way street. Sorry.” And he means it.

Hannibal drops the card in his hand, devastated.

“God is a cruel satirist; He truly works in mysterious ways.” Maya comments, noticing Mathias listening to her as if he just realized something. “Listen, Hannibal. Stop pretending to be selfless. Your philosophical garbage is all about you; you’re self-blame and life of penance is the sick pleasure you get from self-pity and your preening self-aggrandizement. You cheated on your wife, big deal. Every other man and woman was once a cuckold, me too.

“If you want Matthew or me for that matter to live in penance and self-denial, you can forget it; an utterly useless and stupid way to live. You won’t revive the dead, nor mend you’re wife’s broken heart, nor stop you from hitting on naïve college girls in the future. Your massive guilt, especially the kind of guilt you have, will just corrode you and bore everyone else. Your God will not tell me how to live my life. I have no sympathy or pity for you. You can lose this Shadow Game and die for all care. I never thought I would cheer for Matthew in my entire life but I do now. I would laugh at this sad joke but it is too pathetic.”

HANNIBAL’S TURN: The old man thrusts his fist at Matthew again. “No! Your grandfather was not an evil man! You will pay for his crimes and yours! Exodia, smash Decode Talker!” The Forbidden One grinds Matthew’s monster with its massive fist. (Matthew LP 2900 à 200) The strike sends shocks into Matthew’s body, nearly making him fall over. “My turn ends, so I return an Exodia piece to my hand.” Hannibal concludes.

“This duel is done.” Kaiba snorts, turning around to leave, his white trench coat billowing behind him as always. Matthew’s Ultimaya Tzolkin tactic was well established long before the finals began, and even that didn’t same him. He added nothing new to the game.

Pegasus playfully wags his finger at his old friend. “You shouldn’t leave the duel until the last card is played, Kaiba-boy. Who knows what may happen next!” His advice received the usual ungrateful barb.

MATTHEW’S TURN: Sometimes a duelist knows when he draws a powerful card, and this is such a moment; Matthew knows he will end the duel in total victory! He just knows! “I draw, and I activate Dragon’s Mirror! I banish 5 Dragons in my Graveyard to Summon Five God Dragon!” A huge mirror appears behind him, and as five ghosts go inside it a dragon of godlike powers; of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Dark, smashes through the other side of the looking glass. “Now, Return From the Different Dimension!” Matthew pays half his Life and every dragon he banished comes back. (Matthew LP 200 à 100)

“Now, old man, you will see God! I banish 4 of my Dragons; Five God Dragon, Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon, Proxy Dragon, to summon from my Extra Deck GOLDEN GOD DRAGON!!!” Matthew’s dragons fly to the heavens, vanishing into the gathering thunderstorm. Lightning strikes the field, the god thunders down from a higher plain to manifest in earth below; a huge dragon of six wings, covered in a near infinite amount of golden scales.

Kaiba turns around in surprise, with everyone else gasping stupidly at the splendorous beast in play. Weevil and Rex huddle together as lambs, trembling in terror. Maya saw something in each of the dragon’s scales and, squinting hard enough, found that each scale was inscribed with three words: Thou shalt not! A godly monster indeed.

Hannibal drops his duel disk on the ground. “Seize you’re win, Matthew. You earned it. I was wrong about your grandfather but I’m not wrong about you. I know that deep down you are a good person.”

Matthew is unmoved. “Golden God Dragon, destroy the old man! Make this duel my game!” His dragon rises a hundreds of meters into the air and crashes down on Hannibal in a vortex of fire. The mighty Exodia resists but is soon consumed by the flames. Hannibal feels nothing but the most terrible pain in his entire life, with every nerve burning as if in Hell, but he makes not one sound. Matthew’s dragon rises to the sky, returning to the higher dimension where it came, and Hannibal, burned and broken, drops.

Matthew: 100 | Hannibal: 0

All the darkness from Matthew’s evil magic floated away, leaving the bright afternoon sun to shine clearly, as if nothing happened.

Mathias, Stella, and Mokuba rushed to help the fallen duelist. Rex and Weevil still tremble in fright. Maya, Maria, and everyone else remained still, as if not knowing what to do. Mathias desperately pleaded to Hannibal to wake up, shook him, slapped him, pushed his chest and breathed into his mouth, but all in vain. Hannibal was gone. Stella hugged Mathias as he wept.

Kaiba left, this time for good, but grumbled, “First we had the Sacred Beasts to match the God Cards, then the Wicked Gods, then the Dragon Gods, then Golden God Dragon.” His one-time God Card, Obelisk the Tormentor, was no longer special. “Come with me, Mokuba.” He ordered, and Mokuba obeyed.

Pegasus shrugged. “An excellent duel, certainly legendary, it satisfies my connoisseur taste, but I must be going, for half an hour at least. Until next time. And Isono,” he addressed Kaiba’s referee. “Remove the corpse.” The finalists were fighting dogs or race horses for all he cared. The plebs weren’t people.

Maya seemed dazed for she replied as if talking to herself, “Hannibal was right about Matthew. He is a good person deep down but went the wrong way. He seemed so friendly when we just dueled, before I saw he condescended me, but I think I briefly saw the true man, even if just a second. But I’m not a good person. I could have grown up in a whole family, with my mom alive, my dad kind, and our money intact. But no good upbringing will change who I am. The tournament revealed to me my birthright.”

Hannibal halts his direct attack, ready to strike the final blow, but cannot bring himself to defeat Matthew even though it is the best thing to do. He drops his fighting arm, pleading to Matthew once more, “Stop your rampage, revenge is never the answer. Remember what your grandfather taught you – what he taught you through me; you cannot truly change this world, maybe some physical things or situations on the surface level but not the natural order guiding the universe. You must become aware of that order and work with it, not just passively react to it. You are consumed by vengeance; your anguish dominates you and you become like a dog in car, going wherever the engine takes you.

“Even rich men, like your grandfather, like you, who have good fortune, health, education, freedom, entertainment, luxuries, know better than to let themselves be torn by their passions and the highs and lows of life. You know it is the poor who are easily led and wasteful, hence their poverty, but even vicious men of wealth and power destroy themselves. Every good man of importance, such as your grandfather, knew to restain his power, to rule ethically; this virtue is how society is run without which is chaos. What kind of man are you who will destroy everything in his path for vengeance?”

Hannibal sternly points at Maya watching the duel from the sidelines. “This woman is not worth your suicide. She is aggressive, selfish, vicious, rapacious, and irresponsible: an insult to her sex. You may not have been aware of her conduct between the four years since she defeated you but I have seen her flaunt every virtue. Do you want to ruin your life over such a woman?”

Maria glares at Maya from far away, so intensely Maya can hear her hissing if she listens hard enough, while Stella asks her, somewhat sternly, if she hid any dark secrets from her.

Maya shrugs the accusers away with exasperation, “I refused to do what my corporate sponsors wanted and made the first move on anyone I wanted to fuck. Apparently that makes me a fallen woman unworthy of being Hannibal’s Stoic muse. I’m glad he never watched me take a shit because if he did he might have called me human, and that’s terrible.”

“See, she is worth it.” Matthew demonstrates to Hannibal. “You don’t get it; she is as pure and honest as a child while you probably lie even to yourself. The ‘natural order’, my teacher, of the world is centered on vice and death. Want to act ‘in accordance with Nature’ as you would put it? Rape, kill, and steal! Every creature does so to life but only humans are dishonest enough to pretend otherwise. This is how ‘men of importance’ have ruled the world and kept society running; by raping, killing, and stealing from everyone else not as lucky.”

Matthew reaches a high point in his despair. “Leave your academic fantasy world, you old fool! Rich people like me have always known in our hearts the secret to living well is by cold, brutal oppression! The virtues we tell society to live by is a cover to trick ever niggardly inferior, everyone who is not one of us, to living in peace under our power! Hypocrisy, not virtue, is the name of the game, you idiot!” And he breaks in manic laughter. “Welcome to this world, this world of death, of destruction, of utter darkness! Ha ha ha ha!”

The cultured, dignified, reserved Matthew had completely broken down, though Maya knows his decline would reach a low point watching it happen before her eyes sends chills down her spine. “Matthew, you’re so edgy right now you’re slitting my wrists for me.” Let her lame jokes hide her fear, which Matthew, nor any opponent, can ever see.

“Oh I will slit your wrists, Maya, until I watch you bleed dry.” Matthew snarls at her.

“That’s it! Channel that pent up Black Sabbath rage! Mommy didn’t give you an X-box for Christmas and you’re pissed! You’re ready to shoot up a school any minute now!”

Mathias, who watched the duel quietly up until this point, runs into Maya, ready to shut her up. “Don’t! Provoke! Him!” He shouts at her, shaking her to her senses.

Matthew: 3400 || Hannibal: 5200

HANNIBAL’S TURN: “Enough of this foolishness! I’ll end this duel right now! Artifact Uraniawar, attack Matthew directly!” His spectral soldier throws its weapon, a deadly radioactive missile, straight at its target.

But Matthew will have none of it. “I activate Scapegoat!” Four tiny, harmless sheep, shield their master from any damage, now only three sheep was one of them was sacrificed to Hannibal’s attack.

“Practice time is over. Old man, look at this!” Matthew tears his shirt open, revealing the ghastly wound on his chest; a blackened mark in the shape of a small hand with a reddened Eye of Horus symbol carved at the center. He raises his fist into the sky, his Eye of Horus burns with bright light, and black smoke and energies shoot from his fist, morphing into the shapes of skulls and horrid beasts before engulfing the whole arena in a deadly fog.

“Let the Shadow Game begin! We manifest our monsters as symbols of our will with our life-force, or in other words we use our Ba to give energy to our Ka, since you are such a history buff. But if you can’t take the heat playing a real duel or lose, you die! Let’s go!”

MATTHEW’S TURN: “I link up one Sheep Token and link up the other two Sheep Tokens to Link Summon Link Spider and Proxy Dragon.” Two grid-like squares manifest in the arena, and the Sheep Tokens dissolve into spirits, flying into and igniting corners of the squares known as Link Arrows. The portals open, letting two advanced robots – at least that is what they look like – emerge. “And I link them up to Link Summon Decode Talker!” And his new monsters die to open the gateway for another monster. Matthew screams, drawing in his life-force to birth a monster, a cyber warrior, in a duel for the first time.

“So this is what a Link Summon is like.” Kaiba comments, frosty as ever. If he is not mistaken, Matthew will then bring out a dragon named Tzolkin, which will let Matthew easily Summon Sycnrho Monsters with powerful locking effects. If so, Matthew’s strategy would be nothing new, as Hieratic players have long perfected this powerful combo, just adapted to a new format.

Matthew explains, “Decode Talker links two Monster Zones with its Link Arrows, letting me Summon monsters from my Extra Deck there, which I will do. I banish Carboneddon from my Graveyard to Summon Hieratic Dragon of Eset from my Deck.” A small silver dragon but with large golden wings appears, but only briefly. “I Tribute it to Summon Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit, which activates it and lets me Summon Labradorite Dragon from my Deck.” And surely enough one dragon is replaced by two; one light and one dark.

“I tune the two together to Synchro Summon Ultimaya Tzolkin!” The dark dragon turns into green rings, the light dragon into stars, align, flash into light. A larger than life, snakelike dragon made of red flames entwines itself around the whole arena. “I Set a card facedown, activating Tzolkin, letting me Summon an Extra Deck monster: Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!” The dragon of flames draws a fiery ring with its wing, and Matthew’s next redoubtable dragon, a white and silver beast flies through. “Now, my Synchro Dragon, destroy the old man’s baleful Artifact!”

Matthew’s dragon smashes its target with a hailstorm of crystals, but Hannibal bears it. (Hannibal LP 5200 à 5000) The scholar shouts through the wind and hail, “I’m not dead yet! I use Uraniawar’s effect; I destroy my facedown card to save it!” His facedown Moralltach shatters.

Hannibal, though he faces huge danger, merely smiles and winks. “I discard Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit from my hand!” A small, spirit girl flies from Hannibal’s hand, dives inside the dragon, breaking its crystal body into shards from the inside. Yet Matthew’s dragon’s effect persisted beyond its death, and Matthew let Hannibal know it; it smashed Artifact Uraniawar into bits. Hannibal cried out in pain as the pain inflicted on his spirit, embodied in his monster afflicted him, and the tie between his Ba and Ka was cut.

But Hannibal stands strong, a small loss like this cannot bring him down. “I Summon Artifact Moralltach since I destroyed it, which means I destroy your Tzolkin!” The spectral warrior throws its huge sword, brimming with electricity, at the fiery dragon god, cutting into its heart, the dragon dissolving into flames. Matthew snarls at Hannibal for impudence, killing his Tzolkin Combo so easily, but Hannibal waved his finger at his former student, “You always overlooked one important step in your games as well as your studies.”

“Your tricks won’t save you. This is a real battle, not a debate.” Matthew orders Decode Talker to destroy Moralltach, which it does, again severing Hannibal’s connection to his monster and inflicting him with intense pain. (Hannibal LP 5000 à 4800)

HANNIBAL’S TURN: This duel is really taking a toll on poor Hannibal. Now is the time for Plan B. “I set a card facedown and Summon Cardcar D.” A floating wheel-less racecar appears. “And I offer it to draw two.” His car vanishes. “Turn end.”

MATTHEW’S TURN: “My onslaught will continue. I Normal Summon Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb and banish to Special Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, and use its effect to revive Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon from the Graveyard.” His smaller Hieratic dragon appears, evaporates to another dimension, and before Hannibal knows it he once more stands in the way of two mighty and dangerous dragons, one black and red, the other white and silver.

Hannibal sees the attack, and serves his dish to Matthew. “I activate Obliterate!!! I mill an Exodia piece to bypass your dragon’s effect with a Trap card, and bounce it back to your Extra Deck!” A spectral image of Exodia, the forbidden giant, forms behind its owner, and hits its target with a fireball.

Matthew is not amused. “You targeted my dragon this time, so you will not bypass Decode Talker’s effect; I Tribute Red-Eyes!” His decoder atomizes the red and black dragon, crams it in its blade, jumps in the way of Exodia’s fire, splitting into harmless pieces with his blade. Then it dives for Hannibal’s card, slashing it to ribbons. Hannibal returns his discarded Exodia piece to his hand, since his card was destroyed.

But it doesn’t save him from Matthew, who cries, “Crystal Wing, hit him directly!” The dragon showers Hannibal with the fury of Matthew’s ice and fire, slamming him to the ground. (Hannibal LP 3900 à 900) Mathias watches the onslaught with pain in his heart, for each hit on Hannibal is a hit on him, but he keeps himself detached. Nothing is worse than breaking a duel, let alone a Shadow Game, which brings terrible magic upon any cheaters or cowards.

HANNIBAL’S TURN: Hannibal rises to his feet quickly, his spirit unbroken. He still has Plan B. “I Summon Exodia the Forbidden One, equip it with Wonder Wand, then use its effect to Tribute it and draw 2.” Exodia, only a harmless head, appears, only vanish from the spell of a wand. “I play Monster Reborn to revive Exodia’s head and Tribute it to Summon The Legendary Exodia Incarnate!” The head revives and dies once more, an offering to a god, which finds the sacrifice to its liking. A raging fire erupts from the darkness, circling the field, a golden giant forms from the amber flames, primed for battle. Yet Hannibal holds off his attack. “I set two cards facedown end my turn, which means Exodia Incarnate lets me get back an Exodia piece.”

MATTHEW’S TURN: “How you manage to keep Artifacts and Exodia consistent in your Deck is a mystery to me. No matter, Exodia Incarnate is weak, with only 1000 ATK. You’ll need more Exodia pieces in your Graveyard to fight me.”

“We’ll see.” Hannibal said with confidence. “Don’t overlook a factor this time.”

“I don’t plan to. Crystal Wing, destroy Exodia!” This time the dragon absorbs Exodia’s power with its wings with its effect, adding its ATK to its own, then rains a hailstorm of crystals on a new target.

“I activate my Traps, Forbidden Sealing and Radio Half Life! I discard my Exodia piece to mill two more from my Deck and I banish Artifact Moralltach from my Graveyard! Trap combo, go!” Matthew watches in horror as Exodia’s power rises to 4000 ATK while his Crystal Wing dragon’s ATK drops to 3500. The Egyptian giant sends Matthew’s dragon flying to its death with one punch. (Matthew’s LP 3400 à 2900)

Matthew examines his field with dismay. His Decode Talker, being a Link Monster, cannot change into Defense Position. “I end my turn.”

HANNIBAL’S TURN: “Good! I activate Enchanted Exchange; I mill a Spellcaster and add a Fairy from my Deck to my hand, and I set a card facedown.” Exodia grows in strength to 5000 ATK. “Exodia, obliterate Decode Talker!” The giant burns Matthew’s only monster to ash. (Matthew LP 2900 à 200) Matthew howls in torment as the flames scorching his monster scorch him as well, the bond between him and his will manifest violently severed. Hannibal ends his turn, retrieving an Exodia piece to his hand.

Back in Egypt the battle at the village raged on. Many Ghouls bit the dust as Stella eviscerated them with her Yang-Zing monsters. Her teammates behind her just as tough, took away just as many Ghouls. Rex and Weevil tried to hide but were quickly exposed by a gang of Ghouls, but when pushed into combat with no way out the two dweebs suddenly found the courage to fight. The duo struck all the Ghouls surrounding them down with their ace monsters.

But many duelists from the tournament died too. Their bodies littered the sand, tossed by fate with black-robed bodies everywhere. To Mathias, just one dead duelist was too much. He aimed his sight at his opponent, the Ghoul known as Seeker, ready to wipe him off the earth once and for all.

“I suggest you run away while you can.” Mathias advised the Ghoul. “Do you know how many evil henchmen I’ve killed over the decades? If I’m Super Mario, you’re the first Goomba from World 1-1. A lowly foot soldier like you has no chance.”

Seeker gave a smirk so small to be almost unseen but with great slyness. “I doubt I’ll pose much a threat, Saint, but you won’t know for sure until you beat me. Shall we?” He offered his hand almost as if asking Mathias to dance with him. Mathias accepted his challenge.

Mathias: 8000 || Seeker: 8000

MATHIAS’ TURN: He has no idea what devious tricks Seeker has in store but he can’t take any chances, not even with a lowly foot soldier.

“Let’s rock! I Summon Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendent, banish two Nordic cards from my hand to Summon two Einherjar Tokens.” A fair maiden, ironically more fairy than warrior, descends to play with two celestial beings who were once warriors. “I tune them all to Synchro Summon, Father of the Aesir!” Then the titan god, Odin, arrives; tall, solemn, serene. “I activate Mound of the Bound Creator!” Mathias shouts, and the sand beneath them turned into primeval rock. Four columns rose from the rock, their chains wrapping around Odin. “My turn’s done.” Mathias concludes.

SEEKER’S TURN: “A strong play indeed, my prey. But you are ignorant as all prey are. I, the hunter, have long prepared my net to ensnare you.”

“I play Painful Choice.” Seeker reveals five cards from his Deck, all of the pieces of Exodia!

The move startles Mathias and arouses in him the strongest suspicion. Seeker needs the five pieces of Exodia in his hand to win, not in his Graveyard. What dirty trick could he be planning? Mathias selects one piece, Exodia’s right arm, and Seeker throws the rest away to the Graveyard.

“Well, that was easy!” Seeker grinned as a fox eager to invade a henhouse. “You took my bait, and it only took one turn! I Summon Right Arm of the Forbidden One, and sacrifice it to Summon Exodia the Summoned God!” The golden right arm of an ancient giant appears, then vanished, for the golden giant itself towers over the field, its ATK 5000 for all five pieces were dead and buried. “Exodia, destroy Odin!” Seeker commands, and the Egyptian god smashes Odin’s face. Mathias staggers back from the blow, then falls back even more as his own Field Spell strikes him with lightning. (Mathias LP 6000)

Mathias gasps in shock. There was no way Seeker, a man lowly even among criminals could be that strong!

Seeker is all too eager to see Mathias squirm. “I’ll let my attack sink in. I set two cards facedown and as I end my turn Exodia, activates. I return Exodia’s head to my hand.”

“I too have an Effect. I banish Valkyrie in my Graveyard to resurrect Odin.” The Nordic god rises from the dust of death, towering behind Mathias. “And its Effect lets me draw a card.”

The Nordic god casts a blizzard at the Egyptian god with its palm. Seeker springs his trap, “Obliterate!!! I send an Exodia card from my Deck to my Graveyard. I bounce Odin back to your Extra Deck where he belongs!”

“I activate Backup Soldier! I return three Exodia pieces to my hand.” His play drastically cuts down his giants strength, allowing Odin to effortlessly topple it. Then lightning from the four pillars struck Seeker, wounding him more. (Seeker LP 5000) But the Ghoul is happy, for since his giant died, he draws three cards, the same number of Exodia pieces in his hand.

Mathias raises an eyebrow. Another puzzling move! Why did Seeker weaken his monster? He knew it! To gather all Exodia pieces! To summon Exodia in its true form! If Seeker did that, he would instantly win the game, but he would need to recover the two last pieces from his Graveyard. He had a plan.

“I play Burial from the Different Dimension, returning three banished monsters to my Graveyard. I then Summon Tomtmork of the Nordic Alfar and use its Effect to resurrect two Nordic monsters in my Graveyard.” A small, black, dark gnome emerges from the ground and strikes its hammer, calling forth two monsters from the grave. “I tune all of them to Synchro Summon Loki, Lord of the Aesir!” All three monsters rose to the sky and the legendary trickster god descends from heaven. “I set a card facedown. I end my turn.”

He then said, “You blundered. I now have 1000 more Life Points than you.”

SEEKER’S TURN: “It doesn’t matter how many Life Points you have! You’re still going down!” The Ghouls shouts in triumph. “Victory is mine. I activate Dark Factory of Mass Production! I return two Normal Monsters to my hand. Guess what they are?”

“I know your plan!” Mathias retorted. “Exodia. But you won’t get them! Reveal trap, Phantom Chaos! I sent a Phantom Knight card from my Deck to the Graveyard and your Exodia piece dies a second death!” Mist rises from Seeker’s duel disk, and takes the ghostly form of a giant’s right arm on the field, then extinguishes. Seeker gasps in horror.

“Your one and only strategy is to gather Exodia. Now Exodia is gone, you have nothing left. Admit defeat.” Mathias says.

Seeker’s horror turns to resentment, then vindictiveness. “Or so you think, Saint. I have more strategies than you realize. “I return my one dead Exodia piece back to my Deck to Summon Exodius, the Ultimate Forbidden Lord.” A lesser form of the ancient giant appears, one with flesh of bronze, not gold. “Next, Card Destruction.” Seeker discards and replenishes his hand. With four Normal Monsters sleeping in the grave, Exodius’ ATK rises to 4000.

“I summon Mokey Mokey.” The tiny square angel pops into play with a poof. “And equip it with Moon Mirror Shield.” The angel shrouds itself with a halo of silver and platinum.

Seeker’s tall, lanky body lurches forward in excitement. “Exodius, attack!” He sends a Normal Monster from his Deck to the Graveyard, the giant’s muscular right arm engorges, pulses with bodily power, and shatters Odin’s body with a single blow. “Mokey Mokey, you’re next! Destroy Loki!” The tiny shimmers within the silver halo, growing so bright it surpasses Loki in strength. Loki fires bolts of thunder from its hand but the light from the Mokey Mokey’s halo bounces it away. Mokey channels the light into a single beam, and incinerates the god as an ant. Then lightening from the four tall towers strikes Mathias twice, driving the Saint to his back foor. (Mathias LP 1900)

MATHIAS’ TURN: He doesn’t much going for him but he can take one more gamble. He needs all three Nordic gods to defeat Seeker. But the chances of him drawing the right cards are too low. He says, “I banish Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor from my Graveyard, I send another Phantom Knight to my Graveyard and draw a card.” He hovers his hand above his Deck. Please let this be the right card! He draws.

“Got it! I Summon Summoner Monk and discard a Spell with its Effect to Summon Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts!” The Taoist Monk appears, chants its ancient spell, calling forth the flaming steed from the North. “I play Monster Reborn and I revive a monster from your Graveyard.” Mathias issued a command. The duel disks responded, displaying Seeker’s entire Graveyard via hologram. Mathias snaps his fingers. He was lucky! “I revive Ojama Yellow!” The small yellow creature in circus tights appears. “I tune all three monsters to Synchro Summon Thor, Lord of the Aesir!” The three monsters ascended to the auroras above, vanishing. The heavens respond, the god satisfied with the tribute. Thor, the most bellicose of the Nordic gods, crashes into the ground from on high, wielding its hammer in earnest.

“Happens pretty often when I duel. Eating Buffalo Chicken Pizza makes you extra good at strategy like that. I activate Thor, negate Exodius’ Effect.” Thor smashes the bronze god with its hammer, dropping its ATK to 0. “And I activate Odin to protect itself from Card Effects.” The elder god coats itself in shimmering ice.

“Let’s do this! Thor, anesthetize Exodius the old fashioned way! Crack its head with your hammer!” Thor lunges to Exodius.

Seeker declares, “I play my trap, Quantum Crush!” He discards a card. “All monsters will now have 0 ATK.”

“Not on my watch! Loki, use your Effect! Destroy his trap!” And Loki burns the trap away with a bolt of lightning.

Seeker is pushed to his last card. “I play Mirror Force!” Loki strikes a mirror-like wall with its thunderbolt, which bounces the lightning back to the Nordic gods. Loki and Thor succumb to the reflected attack, vanishing, but Odin remains, protected by its divine powers.

“Odin, finish this! Crush Exodius!” Mathias commands. The Nordic God calls forth a blizzard from the North. Exodius struggles against it but falls to the cold, freezing into an ice statue. Odin smashes the ice Exodius, shattering it into millions of shards.

Mathias: 1900 || Seeker: 0

Seeker trembled at the sight of his defeat. He perfectly knew what it meant to lose a dark game. He begged, protesting for his life. “You can’t do this to me! I have a family!”

Mathias only heaped scorn. “Bullshit! You seriously thought you’d get away with activating the ‘I have a family’ card? I’m showing you NO MERCY! You’re going out Mortal Combat style! Odin, FINISH HIM!”

All the holographic monsters vanished except one, the elder Nordic god, which reached out to Seeker as if to grab him. Seeker panicked, he cried in terror, running away from the god as fast as he could. Odin stayed put, calm and serious as ever, and instead fired a beam of pure blue light from its finger.

Seeker stopped dead in his tracks, falling to his feet. Only then did he realize why. He had a gaping hole through his chest. He was too shocked to even speak, his mouth gaping but silent. He collapsed on the sand, dead.

Mathias took a few deep breaths to remain calm and buoyant. It was a surprisingly tough duel. Looking to his sides, he observed Maximus and Ivy finishing their duels together, battling as a couple. They finished off the last Ghouls, Maximus with his swordswoman, Ivy with her fire and ice dragon, then ran to Matthew.

“Thank God you two are alright.” Mathias told them. “I worried you two wouldn’t survive.”

Maximus slapped Mathias on the back. “You thought we couldn’t survive a few evil henchmen? We wipe out mooks like them every other day!”

Ivy said, “But seriously, we are so relieved your OK.” She hugged Mathias and Maximus, who returned her affection.

Yugioh 7 Trails of Glory is a 2005 game I played obsessively for the last 11 years. In the Mystic Land, where you get to right against Marik, Dark Bakura, Dark Yugi, and the Ghouls, no card limits or ban lists exist. The dark world and its temple of the dead are a fun playground to try out all sorts of crazy decks with little limitations.

Monsters:
1x Exodia the Forbidden One
1x Left Leg of the Forbidden One
1x Right Leg of the Forbidden One
1x Left Arm of the Forbidden One
1x Right Arm of the Forbidden One
2x Witch of the Black Forest
2x Sangan

The deck tries to gather all five Exodia pieces in only one turn. Sometimes it succeeds and other times it takes an extra turn or two. I made great effort to make the deck as fast and consistent as possible but I can only go so far. Backup Soldier and Dark Factory of Mass Production are not in the game, which would make the deck go much faster, but I can only use what I can.

This deck requires a sophisticated strategy. Painful Choice is the crux of the deck. Without it, gathering Exodia pieces is harder. The first time I use Painful Choice, I send all the searchers (Witch and Sangan) to the graveyard, so I may revive them with Monster Reborn and Premature Burial, kill them with Dark Hole or Thunder Crash, letting me add Exodia pieces to my hand. The second time I use Painful Choice, I toss away Spell Reproduction and Card Destruction, the most deadening cards in the deck. The third time, I trim my deck of Monster Reborn, Premature Burial, or Thunder Crash, depending on my situation.

Exodia Version 2 has a big difference to Exodia Version 1. It has only one copy of each Exodia piece, which makes it harder to use but sadly does not make it better. I can’t play Card Destruction as often, if at all. I have to play much more carefully. So play this deck if you want a challenge gathering Exodia pieces. Otherwise, you’re better off playing a different deck.

Yugioh 7 Trails of Glory is a 2005 game I played obsessively for the last 11 years. In the Mystic Land, where you get to right against Marik, Dark Bakura, Dark Yugi, and the Ghouls, no card limits or ban lists exist. The dark world and its temple of the dead are a fun playground to try out all sorts of crazy decks with little limitations.

Monsters:
2x Exodia the Forbidden One
2x Left Leg of the Forbidden One
2x Right Leg of the Forbidden One
2x Left Arm of the Forbidden One
2x Right Arm of the Forbidden One
2x Witch of the Black Forest
2x Sangan

The deck tries to gather all five Exodia pieces in only one turn. Sometimes it succeeds and other times it takes an extra turn or two. I made great effort to make the deck as fast and consistent as possible but I can only go so far. Backup Soldier and Dark Factory of Mass Production are not in the game, which would make the deck go much faster, but I can only use what I can.

This deck requires a sophisticated strategy. Painful Choice is the crux of the deck. Without it, gathering Exodia pieces is harder. The first time I use Painful Choice, I send all the searchers (Witch and Sangan) to the graveyard, so I may revive them with Monster Reborn and Premature Burial, kill them with Dark Hole or Thunder Crash, letting me add Exodia pieces to my hand. The second time I use Painful Choice, I toss away Monster Reborn, Premature Burial, or Thunder Crash, depending on my situation.

I still struggle whether to put Reload or Thunder Crash in my deck. They have their advantages and drawbacks: Reload gives me more chances to assemble the cards I need in my hand. Thunder Crash resolves inconsistencies in the deck; like gathering Monster Reborn and Premature Burial but not having Dark Hole. It’s still up in arms but I spent so much time playing Yugioh last week I don’t want to waste any more time.

Yugioh World Championship Tournament 2004 is a game I played obsessively for the last 12 years. Once I got 100% of all cards in the game, I unlocked the unlimited cards option, allowing me to duel with no card limits (except Exodia pieces). This allowed me to try out all sorts of crazy decks with little limitations.

Monsters:
1x Exodia the Forbidden One
1x Left Leg of the Forbidden One
1x Right Leg of the Forbidden One
1x Left Arm of the Forbidden One
1x Right Arm of the Forbidden One
3x Witch of the Black Forest
3x Sangan
2x Fiber Jar

The deck tries to gather all five Exodia pieces in only one or two turns. I made great effort to make the deck as fast and consistent as possible and, thanks to Backup Soldier, I easily gather Exodia pieces. In the 7 Trails of Glory game, however, I struggle much more with Exodia decks.

This deck requires a sophisticated strategy. Painful Choice is the crux of the deck. Without it, gathering Exodia pieces is harder. The first time I use Painful Choice, I send Exodia pieces and searchers (Witch and Sangan) to the graveyard, so I may revive them with Backup Soldier (for Exodia) and Monster Reborn and Premature Burial (for Witch and Sangan). Once I revive my searchers I kill them with Dark Hole, letting me add Exodia pieces to my hand. The second time I use Painful Choice, I toss away more searchers or Monster Reborn and Premature Burial, depending on my situation.

I would love to add Thunder Crash for more consistency but it wasn’t invented in 2004, so I make do with Fiber Jar, which lets me reset the entire board if Exodia fails.